


Downpour.

by idkbro



Category: My Chemical Romance
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-09
Updated: 2014-08-09
Packaged: 2018-02-12 09:49:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2105154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idkbro/pseuds/idkbro
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>feedback is always good :)</p>
    </blockquote>





	Downpour.

**Author's Note:**

> feedback is always good :)

    

It was a dark and stormy night when they met. Not to add suspense or anything, it just had occurred on coincidence. Gerard was leaning over the vinyl counter of the dilapidated bookstore , fingers entwined in his oily black hair, nearly asleep. He should be awake, at least presentable for if anyone chose to enter the store. It doesn’t matter, nobody ever enters the bookstore, especially now because of the Barnes and Nobles that had opened across the street. The downpour isn’t helping to bring customers either. The thrum of rain against the roof and the occasional crack of thunder are the only background music Gerard needs to fall asleep to. He has only just closed his eyes when the jingle of the door opening throws him back to reality. The door opens to reveal someone shivering and wet in a grey hoodie, dark shadows covering most of his face.

“Hey, ” Gerard says, clumsily moving his overgrown hair out of his face, “What can I, um, get for you?”

“Well,” The potential customer says, peeling his soaked hood away from his face, revealing his hazel eyes and messy black hair, “I kinda just wanted to get out of the rain.”

“Oh, okay.” Gerard says and yawns, returning to his previous state of relaxation. The stranger looks around the cluttered space and proceeds to pull off his hoodie. His faded T-shirt clings to the hoodie and reveals a strip of pale skin, covered with ribbons of ink. He locates a slightly worn out armchair and sits down in the middle of it, causing his knees to poke out of the holes in his black jeans. Gerard notices that he makes a move to say something, but stops himself.

The two men continue to sit in an uncomfortable silence, which Gerard is completely okay with. Being social was never one of his strong points and he had no intention of making friends with this complete stranger. He observes the stranger for a while, then returns his focus to the floor.

“It’s fucking miserable outside.” The man says, probably wanting to break through the thick silence with small talk.

Gerard looks at the stranger and mumbles something that sounds remotely like, “Yeah.” and they sink into silence again.

“You know, I’ve never seen this place before. And I live literally down the road.” The stranger claims. When Gerard doesn’t reply, or even look at him, the stranger walks up to the counter and says, “I’m assuming you don’t get many customers here.”

“Yeah,” Gerard says quietly, still staring at the ground, “Not many people know we exist.” Which was extremely true, because this stranger had been the first visitor in a week.

“Maybe you should do some advertising, that usually works, right?”

“Maybe,” Gerard says, “But the store is a lost cause anyways.”

The stranger appears to think for a second before asking, “If it’s a lost cause, why do you still work here? I mean, it’s got to be lonely here.”

Gerard laughs silently, “That might be why I work here.”

“But why’d you start working here? It wasn’t ‘cause you wanted to mope around alone, was it?”

“Well,” Gerard thinks, “It was my brother’s dream. He did so much for me, I had to give him something.” He paused, rested his head in his hands, and rubbed at his eyes.

“Oh,” The stranger says, “Did he die or something? Was that insensitive?”

“No, he didn’t die or anything. He just ran off to pursue a different dream and I haven’t exactly seen him for a few years. But he’s alive. And by then, the economy had collapsed and it was either this job or unemployment. So, I stuck with it.”

“That sucks.”

“Yeah. I mean, what sucks it that I’m stuck confessing my life story to a complete stranger. I’m Gerard, by the way.” Gerard extends his hand, offering a handshake.

“That’s not so bad,” The stranger giggles, and accepts his handshake. “I’m Frank.”

“Hi Frank. Um, the rain is stopping.” Gerard observes, attempting to be as non-awkward as possible.

“Do you want me to leave? Already?” Frank asks, pouting for effect.

“No- no, it’s fine, I was just making an, um, observation. Sorry.” Gerard stumbles over his words.

“I mean, I could buy something,” Frank suggests, and makes his way over to one of the many bookshelves.

“Well, I mean, if you want to. We’re running a bit behind on rent.” Gerard confesses, “But it’s- it’s no big deal.” He says, observing Frank rummaging through the cluttered bookshelves.

“I can’t imagine why,” He says, carrying a stack of miscellaneous novels over the Gerard, “This place is a mess.”  
“Thanks?” Gerard says, scanning the books and putting them in a paper bag.

“No, I’m just saying, you could use some help with organization.” Frank says and takes the bag, “I could help.”

“Sorry, we’re not hiring.”

“Well, if you need me,” He hands Gerard a slip of paper with a phone number on it and looks Gerard in the eyes, “Call me.” Then he turns and begins to exit the shop, into the slow drizzle. Gerard places the piece of paper onto the counter and follows Frank out the door with his eyes.

“But it’s still raining-” Gerard murmurs as the door slams shut and the bell jingles. He looks around, the bookstore is suddenly very quiet.

Resuming his position at the cash register, Gerard is falling back into relaxation when he notices Frank’s hoodie lying on the armchair. He quickly grabs it and runs outside, searching for any trace of Frank. “Frank?” He says, loud enough to be heard. But there’s no trace of him and Gerard returns to the building and places the hoodie back on the armchair. If Frank returns, it’ll be right where he left it.

Gerard picks up the slip of paper with Frank’s number on it. He knows he could just call him and tell him to get his hoodie, but there was a part of Gerard that, despite his need to see Frank, wanted to be alone.

But he definitely would call him later.  

 

 

 


End file.
